SEOUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday he would move to lift a martial law declaration he had imposed just hours before, honoring a parliamentary vote against the measure. Yoon declared martial law on Tuesday to thwart “anti-state forces” among his opponents. But outraged lawmakers rejected the decree, as protesters gathered outside parliament in the country’s biggest political crisis in decades. Yoon’s surprise declaration, which he cast as aimed at his political foes, was unanimously voted down by 190 lawmakers in the parliament. Under South Korean law, the president must immediately lift martial law if parliament demands it by a majority vote. His own party urged him to lift the decree. The crisis in a country that has been a democracy since the 1980s, and is a U.S. ally and major Asian economy, caused international alarm.
“Ummm, just testing democracy. Well done everyone!” <cough>
I’m trying to wrap my head around this, partly because I haven’t been following Korean politics as of late. From Reuters on an earlier article :
SEOUL, Dec 3 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday for the first time in the country since 1980. Below is a Reuters translation of the military decree: "In order to protect liberal democracy from the threat of overthrowing the regime of the Republic of Korea by anti-state forces active within the Republic of Korea and to protect the safety of the people, the following is hereby declared throughout the Republic of Korea as of 23:00 on December 3, 2024
Maybe it’s too early to know, but does anyone have the faintest idea what is meant by “anti-state forces”? Is this just a ham-fisted power grab that failed, or is there any legitimacy to that claim? I’m missing ALL the context here.
Parliament wanted to cut his budget. That’s why he declared martial law.
What a weak snowflake move. Declares martial law because he doesn’t get what he wants.
All these far right regimes and actions … they are all just slowly massaging and conditioning all of us everywhere for what’s to come in the next few years.
They push us to the right, we push back but not enough and they’ve gained an inch … but they keeping doing it again and again until they’ve gained a mile.
And the Fascists keep seeing other authoritarian regimes get away with something, and think to themselves, “well if they can get away with that… What can I get away with?”
I generally hate to make everything about us, but I can’t imagine this having happened had Israel and the US not have successfully succombed to their fascist tendancies in current events.
Democratic ideals are in direct conflict with ideologies of “because I can” might makes right.
I doubt this is over, but I hope it isn’t overlooked that this right wing authoritarian coup was only extinguished because the parliament members successfully climbed over fences to vote it down in the face of military force threats.
It really exemplifies the fragility of democracy and civil rights, and the need for active defense of them.
I’m kind of blown away by this too. The sentiment here on Lemmy following the US presidential election was palpable by people in other countries, and how this might have ripple effects in Europe and beyond. I suppose it’s easy to underestimate the influence of US military, trade, and soft power abroad from within these borders. Still, the idea that politicians and leaders elsewhere would just freaking copy our homework, especially when we’re doing our best to fail the class, is mind-boggling.
It really exemplifies the fragility of democracy and civil rights, and the need for active defense of them.
Jefferson was quoted as recommending a re-write of the constitution every 19 years. So the fragility of all this stuff, and the need to keep with the times, was well-known by the founders at the very start. By that clock, we are decades overdue for some amendments. Then there’s the really famous quote:
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” - Thomas Jefferson
For the record, I appreciate how absolutely metal this quote is. At the same time, I greatly dislike it because it suggests that violence is the right choice right out of the gate. I prefer to take this advice as, eventually, violence is the only option remaining.
Honestly, I think part of the rot that is happening is precisely because the modern nation state model seems to be causing mass misery, resignation, and wealth concentration at a cartoonish scale.
I think Jefferson had a point in that admittedly metal quote that many miss in appreciating it.
In our pursuit of perpetual stability, mostly for the sake of large scale long distance commerce which has been elevated to the point that even incentivizing families and children has become a distant secondary priority, we’ve lost something that is absolutely essential for civilization to progress rather than stagnate and regress:
The renewal of societies that can only come from painful but necessary collapse of the old systems that no longer serve the interests of those that support them.
People can’t afford small homes NOW anymore. If this system remains stable does that mean, as wealth continues to concentrate, that most will be unable to afford so much as a sleep crate from Bezos’s grandchild after a 14 hour workday?
I argue that, painful for the generation(s) that bear it as it is, sometimes the score needs to be reset, or the misery will be perpetual and multigenerational.
… he would move to lift a martial law declaration …
Dude can just go on TV and declare it, how come he can’t go on TV and undeclare it? What’s taking so long?
Don’t you think he looks tired?
I can bring you down with six words, just six. Great reference.
Never really understood that. Like, yeah, I’d expect a politician to look tired, if they don’t are they even doing anything? Shit is a stressful job in a 21st century.
Politicians almost universally need to project a happy warrior demeanor.
Voters want candidates that at minimum pretend to be enthusiastic about their platform.
Biden was removed partly because, in addition to being confused, he looks like a very old and tired man.
Lack of energy is seen, often correctly, as weakness.
Winston Churchill isn’t lauded for saying “We’ll try to stop them at the beaches… sigh”
Still not understanding what happened today. Was president Yoon drunk?
He’s handcuffed by an opposition led legislature and he and his wife are under investigation over influence pedaling and general corruption.
Say, that sounds familiar 🤔
Doesn’t matter what he says, it was already rescinded by the legislature.
Kind of does, since the defense ministry said they were going to enforce martial law until the president lifted it, after parliament voted it down.
From a legal perspective, it doesn’t matter. The Defense Minister reports to the president so it is still just the executive branch. Their constitution states that martial law is over when rescinded by the legislature.
Guns always beat laws.
Except in this case, the laws won.
The people won because they stood in front of the guns.
The legal perspective ceases to matter much when the enforcers of the law don’t enforce it. Laws become mere words.
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Does he have a choice? Congress unanimously voted to reject martial law.
